TV Therapy: Study finds watching reruns can be good for you

New research finds that when the going gets tough, the tough reach for the remote, taking emotional solace in the familiar fictional worlds of beloved TV characters. What’s truly noteworthy, however, is that time spent with “friends” on The Big Bang Theory or NCIS may actually be more valuable than time spent with friends in real life — at least in terms of helping regain self-control.

Across two studies with nearly 300 people, immersion in a favourite program had a restorative effect after a stressful experience, helping participants better perform difficult tasks and improve their mood. The study’s author describes it as “social surrogacy,” observing that our connections with TV characters come with fewer complications, and run less risk of making us feel worse, than those off screen.

“There are a lot of benefits you can get from close relationships, but there are also a lot of problems: you have to put up with someone else’s needs, you have to get through fights, there are conflicts of interest,” says Jaye L. Derrick, a research scientist at the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions. “Fictional worlds can be a way of seeking connection to others without having all the strings attached.”

The study is rooted in well-established research showing that when our mental resources are depleted, we’re less in control of our behaviour. Someone who’s drained by a nasty breakup, for instance, is less likely to resist a bag of potato chips.

In the first experiment, stressed people who had recently immersed themselves in a fictional world — by way of writing an essay about their favourite television show — performed far better on a mental concentration exercise than those in a control condition (people asked to simply list items in the room).

A second study used a diary method to see how this might play out in the real world over a longer period of time. Through daily reports, she monitored whether people would seek reruns of their favourite shows after experiencing stress or mental fatigue, and whether that would result in an improvement in mood. They did, and it did.

“Evolutionarily, we can’t tell the difference between someone on a television show and someone in real life. So when we’re watching these people on TV, the characters feel very real to us, psychologically, and we develop these connections to them,” says Derrick.

“And with a rerun, you already know what’s going to happen and don’t have to pay as much attention. You’re just enjoying it, getting positive mood benefits, and feeling like you’re there with comfortable people.”

Though Derrick acknowledges legitimate concerns about TV making people inactive zombies, she says her study emphasizes the importance of not throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

“I’m hesitant to use this as a prescription: Feeling tired? Go watch TV,” says Derrick. “But what I would say is that if this is something you do, it’s nothing to feel guilty about — and is actually something that research, so far, suggests can be good.”

Misty Harris is a nationally recognized journalist known for her stories on social science, consumer trends, demographics, academic studies, and marketing. For more than a decade, her articles have been... read more featured on the front pages of Canada’s top newspapers, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Vancouver Sun, Victoria Times-Colonist, Montreal Gazette, The Province, The Leader-Post, The Star-Phoenix, The Windsor Star, and Ottawa Citizen, in addition to such online news hubs as Canada.com.
Harris has been honoured by the Society for Features Journalism; appeared as a pop culture commentator on CTV, Global News and BBC World Service; reported on fashion, health and lifestyle issues for Flare magazine; and spoken as a guest lecturer at universities in Canada and the U.S.
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